Thread by @DominicG1990

This #FathersDay I want to talk about paternity leave or, the lack of it. We have a two week paternity leave in the UK. The worst in Europe. In 2023.

Just 18% of Brits think 2 weeks paternity leave or less is enough.

A 🧵 about why it should be 6 weeks.

One in five (22%) dads and partners that are eligible for paternity leave take no
leave at all. The baby is born, the mum having gone through one of the most dangerous and traumatic events with potential life long medical problems and off dad goes, back to work.

Currently, the statutory entitlement to paternity leave is two weeks and the weekly rate for paternity pay is £172 a week, which is 44% of the national living wage. No wonder some dads don’t take the leave. They can’t afford it. We had to save for me to take paternity leave.

43% cited financial hardship as the reason for not taking their full entitlement. 63% of all recent fathers said they did not feel mentally ready to return to work when they did.

The benefits of increasing paternity leave to the whole country are inescapable. If you want the economic argument, it would enable mums to return earlier to work and help reduce the gender pay gap, this combination of outcomes would potentially £23bn to the economy!

Data from the YouGov survey has found that 65% of mothers with children under the age of 12 thought that increasing paid paternity leave would have a positive impact on mothers’ readiness to return to work.

What would this policy cost? Only 1-1.3bn! The benefits are huge when compared to the costs. But boosting the economy isn’t the only reason to make this policy happen.

A huge 83% of mothers with children under 12 thought that increasing paid paternity leave would have a positive impact on mothers’ mental health. 63% of all recent fathers said they did not feel mentally ready to return to work when they did.

23% of mothers have had a C section, major major surgery with a recovery time of six weeks. They aren’t allowed to lift heavy things (such as a baby carrier) or drive a car. This new policy would allow dads to properly support mums who have gone through major surgery.

At the moment, after two weeks, dads just have to go back to work. Leaving mums unable to leave the house to drive anywhere until a doctor clears them to do so. Unacceptable.

We have a moral and economic duty to raise paternity leave to six weeks. To help new families, to give babies the best start in life and to give a new family an opportunity to become more bonded. We talk about the first 1000 days of life being the most important to development.

And therefore, I want to be able to say next #FatherDay we have a new policy that helps families. All political parties must make this a policy in their manifestos. It just makes sense.

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